catbirdseat

It reminds me of the cutthroat competition by surfers for waves in California. There is only so much coastline and too many surfers. Gangs of surfers used to claim certain areas as their own and drive out any interlopers. Boulder problems tend to focus people into small areas in a similar fashion.

I suggest that you write the folks at Climbing Accidents in North American Mountaineering. They may have a database that would allow a statistical treatment. Here's your contact info: John E. (Jed) Williamson 7 River Ridge Road Hanover, NH 03755 e-mail: jedwmsn@sover.net

Are we talking about these guys?

When we were kids, our dads took a bunch of us from the neighborhood on a backpacking trip at Mineral King. They warned us repeatedly about not having food in our tents. They made us hang our food in a tree after dinner. We made a hilarious show of trying to toss a cord over a branch, but finally got the food hung. Later, we were all sitting around the campfire talking when one of the kids, Paul, comes up eating something. We asked him, "What do you have there, Paul?" "Oh, just peanutbutter and honey on crackers", he said. "Where did you get that? I thought we just hung all the food". The answer, "my tent". We made him hide his secret stash in a hollow log well away from our camp.

Try it Dru. We expect a full report.

Sounds like my experience with Chumstick Snag. It was an interesting thing to do once; I'm glad I visited it, but will probably never go back.

If any fault is to be found it lies with his teacher, followed by the administrator in that order. The artwork was clearly an effigy and was protected under the First Amendment. Apparently Teach was a Bushie.

I am aware of that. I just thought it was rather amazing that such a skinny rope could be so strong. For trigger wires, smaller is better and you find that in 7x19 stainless cable.

What I had in mind was Vectran single braid. I've used this for mainsail halyards on small boats and it is incredibly strong and low stretch. Smallest size is 1/8", which is still a rather large diameter, which is why I say maybe it could work on larger cams. Reference. Tensile strength is 1,900 lbs. Specs Splicing probably wouldn't be the way to go because the eys splice is way too long. On the other hand, this stuff could be used on flukes.

This is a digression, but it seems to me that in some cases, such as larger cams, a fine Spectra or Kevlar cord would be good for trigger wires if only there was a way to swage it. It would be more flexible and resistant to kinking and the formation of meat hooks.

New? One can't be sure.

I think we could have figured it out without the last phrase.

No, w00t!

"President Bush concedes the rich get more under his plan, but claims that his proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut is a win-win for every family: Everyone gets cash back and the cut will stimulate the economy. This administration will leave no billionaire behind. Let’s take the W. Bush-Greenspan claim that tax cuts will goose the slowing economy by giving folks money to spend. The father of modern economics, John Maynard Keynes, and modern economists that followed show that if you need spending the rich are the worst people to target; they hoard cash and spend it on foreign goods. A tax cut to wealthy Americans might help the French wine industry, Swiss tourism and the German car companies. But it won't do much for Muncie. All in all, economists don’t buy the stimulus claim. The tax cut is no win-win; it’s win-lose. Someone pays. Bush’s budget bill spends $16 billion less on the environment, research and, surprise, the military. The tax cut raises the price for things we want now and may want later — bombs and freeways. And, it will make soaring inequality worse. A top-heavy tax cut perverts market incentives, though capitalism’s charm is supposed to be rewarding effort and ability. Congressional Democrats complain that the tax cut rewards those who the 1990s treated the best and not those who worked the hardest. " Article Some more reading.

Do we have to?

It was a thought provoking article. I know nothing about kayaking, but it would seem that in white water kayaking it is more difficult to assess risks than climbing (cragging at least) because you can't always see underwater hazards. Even if you knew what was below the surface, the currents can behave very unpredictably depending on flow rates. In rock climbing of established routes, the risks are known, but making first ascents or alpine ascents in variable snow and ice, it's got to be a lot like kayaking with regard to unknown hazards. In rock climbing, unlike kayaking, if you encounter an unexpected danger you can sometimes reverse the moves, that is, back off. Many cases this isn't possible, hence the "failing upwards" scenario. Let's talk about the insurance experiment. I think their conclusions are bogus. In the first case you pay a $100 premium for 100% coverage. In the second case you pay a $45 premium for what amounts to 50% coverage. They claim that the latter is the more logical choice, but is it? The logic of the decision depends on more factors than they are weighing in their analysis. You don't know what that risk is. If it is very high, the first makes a lot of sense. Conversely, if it is low, the second would be favored. If the value of your belongings is not very high, it would favor the second choice and so on. We also figure in our ability to replace our belongings and the necessity of doing it immediately. The formula they are using is as follows: Value of policy = Replacement Cost x chance of loss x Percent Replacement Suppose your belongings were worth $1000, and the chance of loss in over the term of the policy was 10%. The value of the policy in the first case would be $100. In the second case, it would be $50. The second policy is the better deal. But what if you added another term to the equation. This term would be the inconvenience which results from not being able to immediately replace your lost belongings. The formula becomes: Value of policy = Replacement Cost x chance of loss x Percent Replacement x inconvenience factor How do you put a value to this inconvenience factor?

Tool dip might be a way to deal with meat hooks on trigger wires.

I googled and found this report, and this: (http://students.washington.edu/~mmcmurra/climb%20html/swauk.html)

If you give a rich guy a tax cut what does he do with the money? He goes on vacation in France, or maybe he buys a new BMW, or maybe he just invests it in European currency or in European stocks. Anyway you look at it, the money doesn't do anything to stimulate the American economy. When a middle class guy gets a refund check he pays down his credit cards, replaces his broken down Chevy or takes his wife out to dinner at the local restaurant. Tax cuts to those of modest means do much more to stimulate the economy. Because most of the money went to the rich, we have the largest trade imbalance in our history. The money is largely going overseas.

The good old post-gaff pseudotroll.

That rope eating flake is something else! It will swallow your entire rope. You'll be hating life if you rap past it without pulling it all out first, because it won't pull out from below, that's for sure.

I heard a review on the radio that panned it, big time. It sounds like gratuitous violence unmitigated by a plot, but as H. L. Menken once said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the American public".

Gold leaf and electroplate are two different methods. You should know that, Dru.

No one is forcing you to buy high tech gear.

I have some ancient hexes with galvanized wire. On some of them, they put some plastic tubing on the eye before they swaged the cable. With something like that, I imagine you COULD sling directly to the eye.